A detailed study of the rise to power of China's dominant leader.
In 1989, just before the debacle of the Tiananmen Massacre was to
occur, Deng Xiaoping picked from seemingly nowhere an owl-faced,
bespectacled man to lead China's ruling Communist Party. This man,
Jiang Zemin, went on to head not only the party, but China's state
and military apparatus as well. Gilley, Hong Kong correspondent for
the Far Eastern Economic Review, argues in this fascinating
biography that Jiang's rise was no accident, that he was, rather,
the right man (and Chinese politics remains a man's club) at the
historically right time to lead China. Born in Yangzhou, a city
near Shanghai, in 1926, Jiang at 72 is a relatively young man in
the aged world of Chinese leadership. He rose steadily if
unspectacularly in the party bureaucracy, mostly in Shanghai, and
in the byzantine setting of factional strife that was the China of
Mao Zedong, he learned the art of political caution, accommodation,
and leading by consensus-building. He did not create, as did other
leaders, "a private kingdom" within the party that was at once a
power base and also vulnerable to attack. While Jiang had few
ardent supporters, he also had few enemies. Once Deng picked him
for greatness, he was generally acceptable to all power bases
within the party. He has been able to expand his power by slowly
winning influence over, rather than attacking and destroying, as in
the past, those who oppose him. Jiang is no "emperor" in the mold
of Mao or Deng, nor, Gilley explains, is such an autocratic style
of leadership possible any longer in China; while China is
certainly not a democracy, certain checks on the authority of even
the top leaders do exist. Within this setting, Jiang has attempted,
with success, to combine social stability with rapid economic
growth. A well-crafted if overly long work that adds much to our
understanding of the politics of modern China. (Kirkus Reviews)
This path breaking book is the first full-length study of the rise
to power of Jiang Zemin, now the central figure in China's 'third
generation' of leaders. Tracing Jiang's beginnings as a student in
the underground Communist movement in Shanghai through his
appointment by Deng Xiaoping as party general secretary and his
sudden elevation to central authority in the wake of the 1989
Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing, Bruce Gilley offers a fascinating
and highly readable look at how Jiang Zemin has secured his
position as one of the world's most powerful figures. Gilley
follows Jiang's life and career from his early years as the adopted
son of a revolutionary martyr, through his training in Western
science and engineering, to his emergence as what many believed
would be an interim figurehead in the wake of Tiananmen. Gilley
shows how Jiang instead persisted as China's key leader following
the death of Deng Xiaoping: While he shared the concerns of the
last of the Party elders - including their idealistic views of
Chinese socialism - he also accommodated the younger generation of
economic reformers who have helped China to achieve staggering
growth in its domestic economy and foreign trade. Gilley's analysis
of the careful and methodical transition of power from Deng to
Jiang during the 1990s is a remarkable study in complexity and
contrast, clearly illustrating Jiang's ability to either placate
his allies and adversaries or ruthlessly exploit their weaknesses.
Based on first-hand interviews and primary documents as well as a
variety of mainland Chinese and international media sources, "Tiger
on the Brink" is an unprecedented and immensely revealing look into
the highest echelons of Chinese politics on the eve of the
twenty-first century, and will be of interest to anyone concerned
with the world's most populous nation and its newest emerging
superpower.
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